Isaac is Deaf but hears with cochlear implants. He received his first cochlear implant on September 25th, 2006. He received his second cochlear implant on September 10, 2008. This is his journey with sound as told by mommy.

Monday, September 17, 2007

Isaac's One Year Appointment

I've been MIA for a while from blogging for a couple of reasons. First of all, having two little ones to take care of really can tire a woman out. Second of all, we haven't had much new to report. I also kind of feel left out in the CI blogging world because everyone I know is going bi-lateral with their kids. We are not 100 percent sure that we want to yet with Isaac. He is doing so well with one and the second implant does not seem like a necessity right now. Everyone that has gone bi-lateral says nothing but good stuff about it and can't seem to understand how we would hesitate. We did meet another couple at CHOP's CI picnic with a precious little girl named Kylie. They have really given us hope and made us feel less "alone".

Kylie will be three in October and she is doing so well! She only has one implant and her parents say she tested above her age in verbal comprehension and spoken language. Their family has been such a blessing to us. They are from the Philly area but Kylie's grandparents live close to us. We all got together and went to the York Fair 2 weekends ago. Isaac and Kylie were so cute together. It was so heartwarming to see 2 little red lights blinking on their ears as they rode rides together at night! Isaac is quite the little flirt as he was hugging and trying to kiss Kylie while riding in the little cars. Isaac isn't around any other implanted kids and Kylie's parents say that the CI kids she is around are older. There was a moment that brought tears to my eyes. Kylie touched Isaac's blue implant and then touched her pink implant and smiled. It was like she knew he was the same as her. It just melted my heart. This family is so amazing and we feel truly blessed to have them in our lives.

Isaac went on Friday the 14th to CHOP for his one year evaluation with the implant. Auntie Lydia watched Noah so we could focus on Isaac. Thank you Lydia!!! The results were very good for him. He tested at 2 years 3 months for verbal comprehension and at 1 year 11 months for verbal lanugage. These are awesome results for us because Isaac is only 2 1/2 years old at the time of testing. Not bad for only being implanted for a year and turned on for 11 months. We are so proud of our little guy. Another thing to mention is that Isaac was implanted when he was 1 1/2 years old. Most of the other people we know had their child implanted at a year old. Six months can make a huge difference when you have only been alive for 2 1/2 years.

The areas we really need to focus on are the consonant sounds. Isaac can make most of the consonant sounds except for "t", "s", "sh", "j" and "f". His problem is that he gets lazy. He won't use them consistently. He will drop them at the beginning and end of words at his leisure. We can still understand what he is saying but we need to really hone in on making sure he doesn't get lazy. I am going to try to update the blog more frequently if the kids allow it!

7 Comments:

I'm sorry you feel left out. I'm sure there are alot of others with just one CI just like Isaac for various reasons. You are his mom and you know what is best for him. Maybe he can make that decision for himself later as he gets older. I'm glad he is doing so well.

I know the pattern of bilaterals is very different in the US - Tom is still very much the exception in the UK with two.

It was Tom's post-meningitic state that had us pushing for two and making that decision before it was too late and impossible. The three month period where he only had one saw amazing development so I can understand your feelings entirely.

Fabulous story too. Tom occasionally gets together with other implanted children and there definitely seems to be a bond.

I've missed you!!So glad to read about Isaac's Ci friend, how so very fortunate you all are. And I understand how you feel about the bilateral thing, even though we are going in that direction. I think I'd hesitate with it too if it weren't for Ethan's significant language delay as well as the fact that his implant has had some intermittant failures. I've literally been scared into wanting him to have 2 implants. I guess I'm also hoping that another "ear" will help him to start talking, he currently makes no consonant sounds whatsoever and was implanted before Isaac. The bottom line is that Isaac is doing so well and has such a solid family foundation to draw from. He's going to thrive throughout his lifetime regardless of having one implant or two. He already is :-)

I live in the Philly area. We were at the picnic, too. I would've loved to have met you. I felt like the only one who signs with my deaf kid. :D Do you ever go to the parent forums at CHOP? I'm going to try to go more to be the advocate for signing. heh, heh. I have long conversations with the educational consultants there about signing. :D

You know, I know a lot of people are going bilateral, but that's a jump I'm not comfortable with. For one, the benefits don't outweigh the cost of surgery and destroying residual hearing, in my opinion. Having a "free" ear, too, leaves options open for later in life for better technology perhaps. And we couldn't let E choose a CI and have it be as beneficial as giving him one when he's fairly young, but I think a second one should be his choice. My thoughts.... *shrug*I know CHOP is fairly conservative about bilateral, so I hear. I appreciate it.

Isaac is Deaf but hears with cochlear implants. He received his first cochlear implant on September 25th, 2006. He received his second cochlear implant on September 10, 2008. This is his journey with sound as told by mommy.